


Grabbing the Rosary

by terryreviews



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Curiosity, Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:16:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1472836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terryreviews/pseuds/terryreviews
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A first year student sits in the great hall wondering why no one questions the fact that ghosts are there. At least, none of the students around her seem perturbed. And thus the very existence of these ghosts leaves question in her mind of death and life after death. A lot for an 11 year old muggle born to think about granted, but some 11 year olds do think about deeper concepts. She has to answer a riddle to get into her dorm after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grabbing the Rosary

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to create a quirky character of the 60s and 70s mixture of free spirited independence and difference from the norm in the form of a female character that never interacts with the Marauders, but knows of them well enough, but basically she would've have her own arc up until her death in the war between Voldemort's forces and the Order's forces. I never wrote that fic. But the ideas of a non-mentioned member of the order who died before Harry was born, but still had an interesting appeal to me. She was going to be unique while still have a product of her respective times upon her. While that grander story will probably never be written, this is one chapter that I think would've been a good start. Inspired by internet reviews on thatguywiththeglasses.com reviewing Harry Potter and The Woman in Black, I give to you...this.
> 
> Please leave comments for I'd love to know what you guys think :)

Ghosts. Real ghosts. Essence of dead people floating around the tables and having conversations. No silent spirits brooding in corners only to turn around and scare you. These were, for all purposes, people. Just deficient in anything that makes one physically alive. What the hell? They basically were…thinking holograms that drifted easily over the ground as if this were normal.

They talked to the students next to her and breezed past when she refused to do more than briefly nod at them with wet, wide eyes. Her aunts, uncles, a few grandparents were partially right. There was life after death. They were wrong about magic being this burn to death worthy evil, but 1 out of 2 was impressive enough concerning the disturbing philosophical implications of these situations.

Proof of life after death, and the only people aware of it were magical ones. In fact, down the road from now, approximately 7 months, she’d learn that only wizards and witches could become ghosts (leaving her to wonder with a beating heart and tears lurking behind her eyes what would become of her parents) when she was brave enough to ask one of the specters.

But now, right now, in her first year seat she could not understand the lack of fear, or the quickness to assimilate to the mindset of how normal this all was for many of her peers who were currently shoving their mouths full of delicious meats and seasoned vegetables.

She never believed in an after life. With the relaxed attitudes of her parents in terms of spirituality, the evolutions of freer subcultures spreading their words, her perceptive attitude and curiosity, it just didn’t sit well with her. As an 11 year old, it would’ve been easy to manipulate and pull her one way or another, but it worked in reverse when she was forced to read and memorize scripture and hymns  in that she didn’t want to and it made her all the more resilient to learning such material and devoting herself to an unseen figure that told her to do (like Santa Clause after 6).

That night, in the dorms, she watched the walls. Did the ghosts just fly in here? Did dead people just come in here in the middle of the night? Why were they sane and pleasant for the most part (aside from Peeves and one could only imagine what kind of life he had before he died) when most ghost stories showed them as terrified and malicious? What kept them here as opposed to an after life? What was the afterlife like? Did it matter if you had faith in some deity (evidently not the Christan one since magical people weren’t dancing with devils after death but roaming a school’s halls)?

What would she tell her muggle parents? Dear mom and dad, ghosts are real?

She cried herself to sleep that night consumed with unanswered questions and bottomless fears of mortality behind those thick blue curtains trimmed in gold, and the little rosary her grandma Doe gave her on her night side table cold and unwanted.


End file.
